Charles dickens portrayal of Miss Havisham in chapter 8

Pip is guided through the dark corridors by Miss Havisham's beautiful ward Estella (whom pip becomes infatuated with). Pips love for Estella is shown here by Estella carrying a candle; the only source of light in the dark corridors, therefore Estella is 'the light of pip's life' When Estella leaves pip to enter the room, she takes the candle with her, and so her 'light' is removed from pips life.

Miss Havisham is" dressed in rich materials-satin, and lace and silks-all of white" (a wedding dress), but this image begins to shatter when Pip sees that her hair has turned white, and that she is quite aged. Upon closer inspection we see that this grand appearance is actually quite disorganized, and everything is old and decaying-much like the house.

Miss Havisham tells pip that she is heartbroken, and this begins to explain why she is still in her wedding dress. Pip does later (chapter 22) find out that Miss Havisham received a letter from her fiancé on the day of her being jilted, and since receiving that letter put everything into "arrest" .All the clocks had been stopped at the time she received the letter (twenty to nine) and everything had been left the way it was at that moment, letting only decay have its way with it.

All this has made Miss Havisham want to wreak revenge on the male species, and she does so using Estella, her beautiful young ward, whom Pip becomes infatuated with. When Estella refuses to play with pip because he is lower class Miss Havisham tells Estella that she can "break his heart". They end up playing a card game "beggar my neighbor" which mocks Pip, as you could say pip is the 'beggar' and Estella is the 'neighbor'.